Slate-Colored Dye

To make a good dark slate color, boil sugar-loaf paper with vinegar in an iron utensil - put in alum to set the color. Tea-grounds, set with copperas, make a good slate color. To produce a light slate color, boil white maple bark in the clear water, with a little alum; the bark should be boiled in a brass utensil, and the dye for slate color put into it. Goods should be boiled in it, and then hung where they will drain and dry.

To preserve Steel Pens from Corrosion. Dip them for a few moments in ethereal solution of gold. This covers them with a film of pure metallic gold, which prevents the ink acting upon the steel.

Corns

The laminated corn, or callus, produced by pressure, congestion, and increased formation of epidermis, may be softened by moisture, as by soaking in warm water, by the application of a starch or soap poultice; and, being softened, the thick cuticle may be thinned by scraping with a blunt knife, or it may be dissolved by an alkaline solution, with moderate friction. When the thickening has been reduced sufficiently, it may be kept down by daily washing with soap. The eye of the corn may be always made visible by rubbing the part with eau-de-cologne or spirits of wine; and any remains of the core should be removed with the point of a knife. After the operation, the corn should be covered with a piece of soft plaster for a day or two, and a perforated plaster of buff leather subsequently worn to keep off pressure from the centre of the growth. The removal of a corn may be very considerably aided by the use of the compound tincture of iodine painted on the swelling. When the corn is painful, this application subdues the sensibility, and renders the corn dry and pliable, and easy of removal by means of a file. Soap and water, so useful to the skin in many ways, are especially serviceable to feet afflicted with corns, and particularly when they are soft corns. Daily washing with soap, and the subsequent interposition of a piece of cotton-wool between the toes, may be considered as a cure for soft corns. In these cases, the skin may be hardened by sponging with spirits of camphor after the washing. The cotton-wool should be removed at night: and this is a good time for the camphorated spirits. Adhesive plaster, constantly applied, will remove soreness and twinging, and often effect an entire cure.

Dandruff

Nitric acid, twelve drops; Distilled water, three ounces. Mix, and apply once a day.

Rat Poison

Recent experiments have shown that squills is an excellent poison for rats. The powder should be mixed with some fatty substance, and spread upon slices of bread.

Asthma

A prominent professor in one of our New-England colleges, who has been an asthmatic for upwards of forty years, and tried a great variety of remedies, gives this the preference over all others. It consists simply in inhaling the smoke of stramonium leaves, which have been Immersed in a saturated solution of nitre (nitrate of potassa), and then dried. Prepared in this way, it burns with great energy and completeness, rarely going out until the whole is consumed. These remedies, separately, have long been known, both to professional and private experience; but the combination seems particularly convenient and useful. It is best kept in a tin or other metallic box, the inside of the cover being used as a surface on which to burn it while inhaling. The effects are the more marked if it is used early, and before the paroxysm becomes fully developed.

Ingrowing Toe-Nail

This painful abnormal condition of the toe-nail may be cured by allowing the nail to continue to grow without paring it. The boot or shoe will depress the nail at the end as it grows longer, which will gradually elevate the part where it presses upon and into the soft tissues of the toe; thus removing the irritation, the sore soon heals. This is far preferable to the rash and painful operation of tearing off the toe-nail with forceps.

Glycerine Lotion

Take of Glycerine, inodorous, 3 fluid ounces. Mucilage of gum arabic, 10 fluid drachms. Pulv. cochineal, 5 grains. Hot water, 1 1-2 fluid ounces. Deod. alcohol, 2 1-2 fluid ounces. Oil of rose, 8 drops. Pulv. gum arabic, 1-2 drachm. Water, 8 fluid ounces.

Rub the cochineal with the hot water gradually added, and then add the alcohol; triturate the oil of rose with the gum arabic, and gradually add the water. With this mix well the solution first formed, and filter, and to the filtered liquid add the glycerine and mucilage and shake well. This forms a beautiful and elegant preparation, with a rich, rosy fragrance. It renders the skin soft and smooth, and is excellent as an application to the face after shaving.

Laundry Polish

Take two ounces of fine white gum-arabic powder, put it into a pitcher, and pour on a pint of water; and then, having covered it, let it stand all night. In the morning pour it carefully from the dregs into a clean bottle, cork it, and keep it for use. A tablespoonful of this gum-water, added to a pint of starch made in the usual manner, will give to lawns, either white or printed, a look of newness, after they are washed. It is excellent as a polish for shirt-bosoms and other starched linen.

Ventilation, Sunlight, And Warm Clothing

Fresh air by day and by night, strong and nourishing food, dry soil on which to live, sunlight, and warm clothing, are the means of saving many lives which would have been hopelessly lost in the preceding generation. If our conjectures are correct, this improvement may be expected to continue; and everybody can make it greater. Ventilate the schoolrooms and the workshops, and the stores and the houses. In cold weather, let the air, comfortably and equally warmed, be generally supplied from without in a constantly-flowing current. Let those who can provide it in their homes remember that an open fire, which sends two-thirds of the heat up the chimney, furnishes the best ventilation, for a room of moderate size which the ingenuity of man has yet devised; and that the heat escaping by the flue is the price to be paid for it. Let in the sunlight, and never mind the carpets; better they should fade than the health of the family. When a man proposes to build a dwelling in a swamp, warn him of his danger.